The thesis for this annotated bibliography is “Why mass incarceration is plaguing America both socially and economically”

develop an annotated bibliography containing  two (2) academic sources as well as a discussion of what you learned from your research.

What is an annotated bibliography?

A bibliography is a list of citations to sources (books, articles, films, websites, etc.) that you’ve used when researching a topic. An annotated bibliography includes a summary and evaluation of each source. These annotations are written in paragraph form and for the purposes of this class should include the following information:

1. an explanation of the main purpose of the source
2. a short summary of key findings or arguments of the source (including page number if provided by your source)
3. the academic/intellectual credentials of the source. Does it appear in a peer-reviewed journal? Is the author someone who has expertise in the area?
4. any shortcomings or biases you notice
5. the value of this work as a contribution to the topic you’re

What good is it?

The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University (owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/) has a terrific explanation of the value of annotated bibliographies. Here it is, quoted verbatim:

To learn about your topic: Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. Just collecting sources for a bibliography is useful, but when you have to write annotations for each source, you’re forced to read each source more carefully. You begin to read more critically instead of just collecting information. At the professional level, annotated bibliographies allow you to see what has been done in the literature and where your own research or scholarship can fit.

To help you formulate a thesis: Every good research paper is an argument. The purpose of research is to state and support a thesis. So, a very important part of research is developing a  thesis that is debatable, interesting, and current. Writing an annotated bibliography can help you gain a good perspective on what is being said about your topic. By reading a variety of sources on a topic, you’ll start to see what the issues are, what people are arguing about, and you’ll then be able to develop your own point of view.

How do I get started?

This project will work best if you proceed in several steps.

1. Review your topic choice. If you now do not like your topic, and you must use the same topic for the Annotated Bibliography and the Research Paper, then suggest a new topic to me and then start the research. If none of the topics seems interesting to you, you may suggest an alternative topic to me. All alternative topics must be approved in writing.
2. Create a list of sources that seem directly relevant to your topic. Begin by turning to the library’s holdings. (An entire Zoom session was devoted to guiding you through the library research data bases.) Your goal here is to get a broad sense of what academic information is out there on your topic. Remember that  you want academic sources.

        As you develop your list of sources, you’ll probably narrow or tweak your topic in order to make te list manageable. While you              must end up with five academic articles, all of which are directly relevant to your topic, your initial list may well have many more           sources.

3. Narrow your initial list of sources down to five. Your primary goal here is to choose sources that address your topic directly. The best way to do that is by reading the abstracts. When possible, choose sources that reflect a variety of perspectives on your topic. Choose newer sources over older ones as current research is better than historical information.
4. Read and annotate your sources. See the first page of this guide at Purdue OWL for a list of the information required in an annotated bibliography.
5. Put it all together. Your final product will contain the following elements—in this
6. A description of the topic you decided to study further. This description should explain what the topic is and why you found it intriguing. Length: 100-200
7. A discussion of the research process that led you to select the sources you did for (How did you find those sources? Why did you select these sources rather than others?) Length: 100-200 words.

Deliverables

1. The annotated bibliography. Length: no more than 200 words per source.
2. A discussion of what you learned from your research. This discussion should draw obviously and explicitly from the five sources you Length: one to two pages.

The fine print

All annotations must be in paragraph form and use complete sentences. All sources must be cited using MLA format. Pages must be numbered and should be proof-read carefully for clarity, organization, spelling, and grammar.